Oryx and Crake Reading pt 2

  

In the second segment that we were reading, it starts off with Crake and Jimmy keeping in touch through email because Jimmy was attending Martha Graham. The boys had a little competition [what it seemed like] because Jimmy had a little more an advantage with the girls and his school was more important than Crake. Once the holidays came by, Jimmy decided to visit Crake. Through the security into Watson-Crick, two CorpSeCorps men pulled Jimmy aside and asked him, “You seen your runaway mother lately?” “No” (197) replied Jimmy, who was being truthful. Once Jimmy cleared security, Crake and him reunited. “Compared with Martha Graham [Jimmy’s school], Watson-Crick was a palace”(199) when it came to everything. Jimmy and Crake toured the school the next day, talking about projects, new inventions and what was going on in their lives. The first thing they saw was the “Décor Botanicals… developing Smart Wallpaper that would change colour on the walls of your room to compliment your mood” (201). They then went to NeoAgriculturals and they were creating chickens. Instead of the whole chicken, they were just chicken parts, with high growth rate built in so that you did not need to add growth hormones. Because the animals were made to not feel anything, “animal- welfare freaks won’t be able to say a word, because this thing feels no pain’ (203) [which is what is kind of happening in today’s world]. The last place that they looked at was the BioDefences where they created a dog pound, which were guard dogs that were made for dog security.  The next day the guys talked about if they had any girlfriends, if the money ran out at Helth Wyzer, and lastly they saw a video with Jimmy’s mother and Uncle Pete in it. Although both in shock, they knew that they could not tell a single soul and figured out that his father was murdered. On their last night together, they played a game that they used to when they were younger called “Extinctathon” (214), which was a web interaction with all sorts of defunct animals and plants. Once they were on the web, Crake pulled a picture of Oryx which made Jimmy have a feelings arise such as “his own guilt, his own shame, his own desire” (215).  At last, it was time for Jimmy to leave and Crake and him started to talk about dreams. Jimmy constantly remembered his dreams. Crake on the other hand never remembered his dreams; instead Snowman remembers them. It made sense to Jimmy why Crake screamed so much at night. He would be so immersed in the moment that he would lose it. In chapter nine, Snowman is wondering if different people are still alive, if so where are they? Snowman wonders to the Compounds when there is the deserted town where life once was. His main goal is to find food, during that time he cuts his foot on glass and that piece is wedged in his foot. Suddenly a twister hits, lights go out, and he feels that Oryx is now with him. Back to Jimmy and he is finally graduated and starting his life. He has become addicted to sex. After he moves to the junior apartment in the Anoo Yoo Compound, which were an small room, kitchen and bathroom. Once he was promoted, he went off and bought things for his house. Crake had found out that Uncle Pete died suddenly, believing it was sabotage. The CorpSeCorps never stopped tracking Jimmy. Once day they interviewed him and he saw his mother being shot to death. Anger filled his body and they could tell by the monitors. Snowman finds a radio after the twister was gone and someone answered it on the other side. The voice kept repeating “kkkkk” (273) “I’m here! I’m here!” the voice shouted.

Quotes:
 "I never remember my dreams," said Crake.
- Why doesn't he remember his dreams? Are they even dreams?

"So Crake never remembered his dreams. It's Snowman that remembers them instead. Worse than remembers: he's immersed in them, he'd wading through them, he's stuck in them. Every moment he's lived in the past few months was dreamed first by Crake. No wonder Crake screamed so much." (218)
- Will this be answered on why he never remembers them? Is this a game stimulation, is this even happening? Is his memory constantly erased so he doesn't remember them?


Questions:
1. Why does Crake have a picture of Oryx in his video game?
2. Was the voices that he heard from the radio real or was it his imagination?
3. Why did the CorpSeCorps wait so long to show Jimmy the video of his mom being shot?